Guwahati: Senior Islamic State (ISIS) leader Bilal-al-Sudani was killed in a US counterterrorism action in northern Somalia, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin revealed in a statement on Thursday.
No civilians were injured as a result of the US assault operation that was carried out on President Joe Biden’s orders and that resulted in the deaths of several more ISIS terrorists.
“On January 25, on orders from the President, the U.S. military conducted an assault operation in northern Somalia that resulted in the death of a number of ISIS members, including Bilal-al-Sudani, an ISIS leader in Somalia and a key facilitator for ISIS’s global network. Al-Sudani was responsible for fostering the growing presence of ISIS in Africa and for funding the group’s operations worldwide, including in Afghanistan,” the official release of the US Department of Defense quoted Austin as saying.
“This action leaves the United States and its partners safer and more secure, and it reflects our steadfast commitment to protecting Americans from the threat of terrorism at home and abroad. No civilians were harmed as a result of this operation. We are grateful to our extraordinary service members as well as our intelligence community and other interagency partners for their support to this successful counterterrorism operation,” Austin added.
Before the year came to an end, US forces carried out an airstrike in Syria that killed two key ISIS members, according to CNN.
Notably, military operations in Somalia have solely up to this point focused on al-Shabaab members, the area’s preeminent insurgent organisation.
The first official claims that al-Sudani was subject to sanctions by the US Treasury in 2012 for facilitating the transportation of foreign combatants to an al-Shabaab training facility and for providing funds.